Friday 18th October – Last day in school and also Wear Red to Show Racism The Red Card (see separate letter)

Monday 28th October - Start of Autumn 2 half term.

Wednesday 18th December - last day in school before the Christmas holiday.

Welcome to Maple class, I hope you have had a wonderful summer and you are recharged for a new school year.

Our curriculum focus this half term will be:

Maths

Using the Maths- No Problem scheme of work we will be focusing on: place value and addition and subtraction.

English

To the start the term off we will be looking at poetry and holding our very own slam poetry competition.

Using the Power of Reading scheme, we will be reading Street Child. Set in the second half of the nineteenth century, Street Child tells the story of a boy called Jim who, after a series of misfortunes, spends time in the workhouse as a child labourer and lives on the streets. The book is based on the true story of an orphan whose plight inspired Doctor Barnado to try to help street children, and led to the founding of his children’s homes. Exploring the novel enables children to discuss challenging themes including cruelty, injustice, resilience and humanity. It also enables children to develop an understanding of issues such as poverty and child labour.

Aims of this sequence: - To empathise with a character and explore possible reasons for his actions and consider decisions he might make - To explore narrative plot, settings, characters and draw inferences to aid understanding - To write texts based on fictional experiences - To write recounts from a character's point of view - To write in a chosen form for a selected audience.

Science-Life Cycles.

In this unit children will learn that plants and animals have life cycles and that reproduction is a part of this cycle. They will recognise that each life cycle has distinct stages but that these can vary between species, for example they may describe and contrast the stages of the human life cycle with three and four stage metamorphosis in insects and amphibians. They will understand the importance of reproduction for the survival of a species.

Topic- What was the impact of the industrial revolution on our lives?

Can I create a timeline from the Victorian period up to the present day?

How does your daily routine compare with the daily routine of a child from the Victorians?

Can I write a report from the point of view of the mill child or the owner?

What was it like to be poor compared to the rich in the Victorian era?

Find out about fashion and design during the Victorian era.

To be able to locate key locations from the Industrial Revolution.

To be able to identify the importance of rivers in the Industrial Revolution.

To be able to understand how the British landscape changed during the Industrial Revolution.

To be able to identify patterns in the movements of the Luddites.

To be able to identify how the British Empire grew during the period of the Industrial Revolution.

To research the great exhibition and begin planning an invention.

To plan and make a new invention that will help with your daily life.

P.E.

Lessons take place on Monday with Mr. Beck and Wednesday morning with the sports coach.

Please ensure FULL PE kit including suitable footwear is in school on these days, particularly if it has been home for washing or used in an after-school sports activity. No football kits.

Long hair should be tied back and earrings either removed or taped over for safety.

Guided Reading

Each group will have two guided reading sessions and a comprehension session each week . These books won’t be sent home as they will be needed at school. However, the children will have a book from the school library to take home as it is imperative that children are reading for pleasure and continuing to develop their reading and comprehension skills (bring to school on a Tuesday to be changed every two weeks). We will also focus on comprehension activities throughout the week.

Spellings

We will be looking at different spelling rules and patterns every week then will be tested on the rule each week. However, children will need to learn the rule as no spellings will be sent out to practise.

week 2: suffix 'tious'.

week 3: suffix 'cious'

week 4: suffix 'cial'

week 5: suffix 'tial'

week 6: suffix 'ant'

week 7: suffix 'ance'

Home Learning Challenge

See homework book- to be handed in on Monday 9th December, linked to our topic 'What was the impact of the industrial revolution on children's lives'.

Maths homework

Please see the links below for the different online games focusing on multiplication and divisions and also your child is registered to Timetables Rockstar's.

Don't forget to check out the school's twitter page for regular updates and information.